So there's this recently-discovered type of cosmological event called Fast Radio Bursts:http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/07/mysterious-radio-bursts-come-from-outside-our-galaxy/. To sum up, they're different from other radio-producing phenomena mostly in that they're unaccompanied by radiation at other frequencies, unlike supernovae. They also seem to come from a great distance; outside our galaxy entirely seems likely, which would mean they also happened a long time ago.

Now some folks have a theoretical source for FRBs: a neutron star that's above the mass limit where it should collapse into a black hole, but can't because... (and this makes my geek mind light up until I swear I could read in the dark from the glow behind my eyeballs) it's spinning so fast centrifugal force overcomes the pull of gravity.

The basic idea is, the intense magnetic fields that neutron stars (themselves the remnants of stars that have gone supernova) are known to generate eventually slow the star's spin. In the (theoretical) case of blitzars, that spin is all that's keeping them from collapsing. So when they slow past a certain point, gravity prevails and the star vanishes from the universe, leaving a black hole.

But most of that incredibly strong magnetic field stays behind, suddenly shorn of the body that was generating it. The forces released by the field assuming a new configuration cause a Fast Radio Burst.

Basically the article is stating that these little "blitzar" creatures are neutron stars that are the post-supernovae result of massive stars that have a lot of rotational energy. The blitzar, due to it's increased density and decreased size, spins incredibly fast and it's rotational forces outward defeat the gravitational forces inward that would normally collapse a neutron star into a black hole. However, the blitzar inherits the magnetic field from it's mother star that slows the rotation of the neutron star until the point where it crosses a threshold where it's rotational forces can no longer defeat gravity and the star collapses massively and quickly into a black hole. The release of the energy in the magnetic field is the rapid radio signals.

Even it turns out these blitzars don't really exist, or are very different from what the models predict, I find the concept alone astounding: an ultradense mass rotating so fast that even its nearly inconceivable gravity- over a billion times that of Earth- is counteracted by centrifugal forces!

My little geek mind boggles...

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You have a gift for explanation Wright, because I am scientifically as stupid as they come, but I understood what you posted.

More like an interesting theory, albeit one that matches the information we have so far. As the article readily admits, we haven't directly observed the cause of Fast Radio Bursts, so the specialists are doing some informed speculation. But that's what good science is about, after all.

And thanks, magic.

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Live a good life... If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.--Marcus Aurelius

It would be interesting to know how fast a neutron star (blitzar) has to spin to counteract the pull of gravity within itself. Maybe in revolutions per minute/second or actual speed measured as from the surface. I imagine the number would be absolutely tremendous beyond comprehension.

^^^Well, if we could somehow observe conditions on the surface of a neutron star, we'd see some amazing things. For one, the astounding gravity actually bends light so that parts of the star over the curve of the horizon would be visible from a given point.

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The gravitational field at the star's surface is about 2×10 to the 11th times stronger than on Earth. Such a strong gravitational field acts as a gravitational lens and bends the radiation emitted by the star such that parts of the normally invisible rear surface become visible.

Given how fast a blitzar would have to spin to keep from collapsing, I wouldn't be surprised if points on its surface experienced significant relativistic effects. The wiki article says most newborn neutron stars spin several times per second, and the fastest confirmed spins 716 times a second.

I feel a little wobbly, just contemplating that.

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Live a good life... If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.--Marcus Aurelius

From the Wikipedia page that article gives an average neutron star radius of 12km. Given that and the revolutions you can get a ballpark estimate of ground speed.

Assume a point on the surface of the star. With a radius of 12km that makes the circumference equal to 75km. Then it's just converting the revolutions per second into kilometers per hour to find speed that point travels.

100 million mph is between 1/7 and 1/6 light speed! In light of the Theory of Relativity, what kinds of interactions would there be between the mass at the equator of the neutron star in comparison to other areas of the star?

The fastest rotating neutron star, cited in the Wiki by wright, revolves at 716Hz. From the Wiki on that particular star[1] you will find that the star has a radius above my average of 12km I used in the calculation. That star's radius is 16km and if you plug that back into my math you'll find that star is rotating (at the equator where the radius is 16km) at a speed of 2.5 X 108km/hr or 1.5X108mph.

The fastest rotating neutron star, cited in the Wiki by wright, revolves at 716Hz. From the Wiki on that particular star[1] you will find that the star has a radius above my average of 12km I used in the calculation. That star's radius is 16km and if you plug that back into my math you'll find that star is rotating (at the equator where the radius is 16km) at a speed of 2.5 X 108km/hr or 1.5X108mph.

Talk abount inertia! People talk about not being able to turn a moving ship suddenly <insert titanic ship reference here> because of all the inertia of the mass of the ship.

A teaspoon of material of neutron star probably has the same mass as all the steel of a ship the size of the Titanic. But yet as the Titanic mass moved only at a few knots, a neutron star can rotate a fantastic rotational velocites.

Inertia and momentum on a unimaginable cosmic scale...

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